Phosphorescent luminous enamel



Patented Aug. 2, 1927. I

U NlTED STATES Parana" orrica.

FEBNAIND SAUVAGE, F PARIS, FRANCE.

PEOSPHORES GENT LUMINOUS ENAMEL.

No Drawing. Application filed September 21, 1925, Serial No. 57,795,and. in France October 4, 1924.

1 The present invention has for its subject the coating of all objects,statuet-tes, vases, sculptures and so forth of earthenware, plaster,artificial marble, metal, porcelain, 5 unglazed porcelain and of plasticmaterials,

with a luminous, phosphorescent, translucent, washable and unchangeableenamel.-

The result obtained by this luminous, phosphorescent enamel gives to allthese articles l. The appearance and advantages of porcelains andceramic ware.

2. The coating of luminous materialsby means of a hard and washableenamel which protects them against moisture-and causes forde-eomposition: becoming dull, disaggregation, reduction of luminosityand so forth.

3. The property dark.

The luminous enamel is not only superof beingluminous in the ficial. Itincludes a number of operations.

which areas follows 1. The preparation of the articles or the surfacesso as to render them suitable for receiving the luminous phosphorescenttate 50 enamel. Y

2. The application in successive layers of the luminous products, withsuccessive dryln s.

l Decorating operations if necessary.

4. The application ofthe luminous transparent enamel itself.

5. Drying by suitable baking.

1. Preparation of articles or surfaces to be enamelled.

Articles made of a material which has not been baked, such as plaster,are subjected to a drying action at a suitable temperature.

In order to stop the porosity thereof they are coated with stearine or alayer of impermeable varnish, gum-lac and so forth.

In the case of articles of metals other than zinc, it is necessary toprotect the metal by means of an insulating material with a base ofgum-lac or other suitable varnish.

I I. The luminous products used are phosphorescent zinc sulphides andcan be radiferous for certain applications.

These sulphides of zinc are in daylight of a yellow white which has aclose resemblanee to 'ivory.

In'the dark these phosphorescent zinc sulphides become of a yellow,green,

red and so forth luminosity according to the phosi phorogene which theycontain.

The zmc sulphides may also be coloured by the addition to varnishes of anon-decomposable colouring agent and which is sufficiently transparentsuch as anilines. The luminous enamel will then have in daylight thecolour of the colouring agent employed but in the dark it will retainthe luminous colour of the zinc sulphide used.

' The phosphorescent zinc sulphides are present in the form of very finecrystals but insoluble in water, petrol, alcohol and so forth. It istherefore essential to use them under conditions which enable them to beplaced in thin layers on the object to be enameled. For this purposethese products are carefully screened and mixed as intimately aspossible with varnishes of which the composition may vary and of which afew formulae are given below which may be modified by equivalents.

Alcohol varnish-Alcohol 1 litre, mastic 50 grammes, bleached gum-lac 100grammes, Canadian balm 10 grammes.

Cellulose acetate 'va I'n1i.s-lz..Cellulose ace-- grammes, triacetin-e 5grammes. ethane tetrachloride 950 grammes, alcohol 95 100 grammes.

Celluloid oarm'sh.Celluloid 4 grammes, acetone 50 grannnes, amylacetate50 grammes, Canadian balm 1.25 grammes.

Petrol oarnish.-Dammar 46 grammes, pe-

trol 54 grammes.

The first layer. consisting of varnish mixed with zinc sulphides in theproportion of about 50%is applied. This first layer is dried intwenty-four hours in a furnace at 60 or 65 C.

The number of successivelayers may vary from three to six layers whendrying in a stove of which the temperature is increased by 10 after eachlayer.

For unglaze-d porcelain, ceramic ware, baked earthenware and so forththe temperature may be raised up to the limit of decomposition of thegums and varnish employed.

HI. Decoration of objects.

This decoration of the eyes, eye-lids, hair, muscles, veils, ornaments,etc., may be effected in colours, either by transparent lacquers whichallow some of the luminosity of the product to pass therethrough, or bynon- I 9 Formula; varnishes used Ma a 0: 2mmtransparent colours which donot allow the passage 60 grammes,

of luminosity in the dark. IV. By means of the successive coatings theobject treated has a smooth surface and from which onl hardness and thefinal brilliancy, which 1s necessary to constitute a phosphorescentluminous enamel, are miss- 1n lhe enam-elling is completed by two orthree layers of a hard transparent varnish or enamel, used alone, ofwhich the composition may be varied according to the formulee givenbelow or according to other equivalents. f

, The objects enamelled in this manner are passed through a furnaceafter each varnishing, the temperature limit to be reached being that ofthe products constitutlng the enamel or the varnishes.

nous product.-

Varm'sh I b K.-Bleached gum-lac 100 grammes, sanderac' 200 grammes.mastic 50 grammes, enetian terebenthine' 100 grammes. alcohol 1 litre.

Varnish 0 f nitrocellulose-Nitrocellulose gum-lac 100 grammes, essenceof terebenthine 500 grammes, methyl alco-. hol 500 grammes," amylacetate 1 litre.

. Dealing for example with a dull unglazcd porcelain statuette of Venusde 'Milo.

Treated with luminous enamel with phoshorescent zinc sulphide of yellowcolour,

. its appearance in daylight is that of a slightly yellow ivory statue;

If this statue is placed in the half light or in the dark all the partswhich have been illuminated become oi: a lively yellow luminosity whichcauses the whole statue to become translucidas thoughit was illuminatedinternally. The parts which are less illuminating have a less livelyluminosity.

It will thus be .seen that these objects receive luminous eflectsvarying according to the quantity and the direction of the luminousrays, thus producing the most artistic I light and shade effects,luminous effects which may continue for a number of hours if the objectitself has been exposed for a number ofhours-to light or if the productsthemselves are radiferous.

, Moreover in the case of one or more pe'r sonagcs luminous products ofdifferent (:01- ours may be used thus giving different luminosities 1nthe dark. These statuettes reproductions of animals, flowers and soforth may thus be employed not only as artistic objects but as usefulobjects such as ladies work baskets, boxes, ink stands. ornaments forpendula, candelabra, lamps and so forth. Having thus described myinvention, what I'claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent isA method of rendering objects luminous in the dark consisting in coatingthe objects'with layers of a mixture of a varnish and phosphorescentzinc sulphide, and drying the article-after-each coating at atemperature of about 65 C. and increasing the temperature by 10 afterthe application of each layer.

